Thursday, March 19, 2020

Free Reading for All (with a tablet or computer connected to WiFi)...


Another letter to my students' parents:

Dear Parents,
Here are a few free ebooks I would recommend to get your kids started.  They can read them online using their Chromebook (html), or you can download them onto a tablet.
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/19722 A Child's Garden of Verses by Stevenson (beautiful children's poems)
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/19154 With Lee in Virginia by Henty (about the Civil War)
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/29756 The Cat of Bubastes: A Tale of Ancient Egypt by Henty
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1874 The Railway Children by E. Nesbitt (a delightful story about a family that has to move due to dire circumstances)
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/770 The Story of the Treasure Seekers by E. Nesbitt (another great story)
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/45 Anne of Green Gables by Montgomery
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/37106 Little Women by Alcott
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/11757 The Velveteen Rabbit by Williams
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/708 The Princess and the Goblin by MacDonald
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/709/709-h/709-h.htm The Princess and Curdi by MacDonald
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/18614 At the Back of the North Wind by MacDonald (simplified)
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/289 The Wind in the Willows by Grahame
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/11 Alice's Adventures in Wonderful by Carroll
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/113 The Secret Garden by Burnett
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/55 The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by Baum

A List of other children's books that are worth reading: http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Children%27s_Literature_(Bookshelf)
A whole library of history books for children http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Children%27s_History_(Bookshelf) 

Librivox.org has several of these stories and more in audio format.
Have fun reading!

~Mrs. Larson

Wednesday, March 18, 2020

Family Reading Ideas

I sent this letter to my students' parents today.  My classroom students began home learning today.  I hope it inspires you as you may be stuck at home, too.

Dear Parents,
Earlier I sent you a link to Sally Lloyd-Jones' newsletter where she will be reading on Instagram some of her books.  She is the author of The Jesus Storybook Bible.  I began listening to her first storytime today.  It is read in Spanish and in English.  It is SO beautiful! Link: https://www.instagram.com/sallylloydjones/

Another favorite creative of mine is Andrew Peterson, writer of the song "Is He Worthy?"  He is not only a singer/songwriter, but also a children's author.  If you are interested, he will be reading nightly on Facebook live at 7pm central his popular book "The Wingfeather Saga: On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness."  This begins Friday evening. Here is a link to his FB page:

Another great idea is to pick some wonderful books off the shelf and read aloud to your family yourself!  We spent years doing that when our kids were younger.

I will be compiling some reading suggestions from gutenberg.org and librivox.org.  These are both free ebooks and audiobooks for us to enjoy without having to visit the library.  They are all public domain (usually classics and out of print) books, so include some wonderful stories from the past.  They even have wonderful picture books from the likes of Beatrix Potter and Randolph Caldecott.  Look here for their picture books: http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Children%27s_Picture_Books_(Bookshelf)  
I will send these book suggestions at a later time.

We really enjoy listening to Adventures in Odyssey on podcast or oneplace.com as well as Focus on the Family Radio Theater.  Links: https://www.whitsend.org/  and https://www.oneplace.com/ministries/focus-on-the-familys-radio-theatre/

Happy Reading!
~Mrs. Larson